What training/study is right for you?

Planning to learn, learning to plan

Like anything in life, making a decision to study at university or polytech means you have lots of choices you can make, such as what to study, how long to study, and where to study. Whatever choices you make you’ll be investing a lot of your time (and probably money) so putting time into the choices and their consequences means you’re more likely to make decisions you’ll feel good about further down the track. In this part of the website we’ve got links to various tools and website to help you think about some of these decisions before you make them.

Studying just to learn something new?

Often we just want to learn some stuff without having to spend money or commit to attending classes. This can also be a great way of building up study skills and knowledge to prepare ourselves for further learning. If you’re done with reading library books, or want a structured course there are plenty of free courses you can do from home such as the course delivered by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa ‘Papa Whai Rawa‘(no relation folks!) via their Open Wānanga. Te Wānanga also have many of the same courses and others available for face to face learning in locations around the country that are free.

Paying for your study

Studying at university or polytech can be like an investment in your future. Choose a bad investment ( e.g. an expensive course with no chance of getting a job) and it may not matter how much effort you invest, you’ll get little return on your investment. So before you hand over your hard earned cash or incur some big student loan debt, make sure you’ve thought carefully about what you are studying.

If you’ve got a Whai Rawa account then you should also be able to make a Whai Rawa tertiary education withdrawal to help pay for your course, but remember what you use for study you won’t be able to use for first home purchase so think carefully before requesting a withdrawal.